Little Tikes Baby Crib Makeover

One of my favorite things about thrifting is finding something that reminds me of when I was a little kid. So a few months ago when I found this Little Tikes baby crib, I squealed in the store! For only $3 I knew it was a steal and I could fix it up. Here is my Little Tikes crib makeover tutorial (you gotta love a good before & after!)

Check out those sweet pastels! I didn’t have this same crib, but maybe a friend did because I remember playing with it! It has two pieces and it’s really sturdy hard plastic.

When it comes to spray painting plastic furniture, there are plenty of tutorials out there. And what I learned in my “research” is that different types of plastic (even within Little Tikes toys) respond differently to paint. I’m usually a Rustoleum girl, so I went with that because they had the colors I wanted. There’s also a Krylon Fusion that is specifically for Plastic, and I could have done a primer coat of that and then the Rustoleum on top.

I did 2-3 light coats on each piece and they have held up (in the rain in my back yard patch of grass) rather well! Now here’s the part I couldn’t seem to find a solution for. Every time you take the top part out of the crib, it scratches a little bit of the bottom. (You can see the scratches in the pictures.) I’m not worried about it, since it’s just for my kids to play with. I can re-paint it down the road if I need to.

The fun part was picking fabric to match the cute hot pink and gray paint. These two prints are from JoAnn Fabrics – I spent about $6 total. To cover that pastel flowery goodness on the pad (which was in really good shape, just UG) I just pinned the fabric around the shape and sewed a tight-fitting cover for it. And then I sewed it shut.

You could use velcro, but I wanted this to be finished during naptime and I was racing the clock!

Add a few pillows that match, a “sheet” made of one long piece sewn together, and my kids were happy as can be to have a new place for their babies!

My 2-year-old son sleeps with a pink baby he named Baby Suzy. I know some parents freak out about that stuff, but I think it’s cute! He is so loving with her and now he has something to use when Sister wants to play pretend.

Since I already had one of the cans of paint, the whole project cost about $12! My kids are having so much fun playing with their new (to them) crib, and I didn’t spend enough money to feel bad about donating it back when they outgrow it!